Body shell

Fairing Panel

sep 052018

The fairing panel, the connection between the two front wings, has been removed completely because the front wings were also removed. This piece already shown some cracks on the places where is was welded onto the front wings. Now the front wings are remounted again the fairing panel, after it has been repaired, can also be put back again. To smooth out the surface a layer of lead has been applied, to prevent a tick layer of filler during the paint job.

Front wings without the fairing panel

Fairing panal rewelded onto the front wings

New layer of lead applied to smooth out the surface

New layer of epoxy primer

Bonnet fitment onto the fairing panel

Front Wing Mounting

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okt 152017

Now the left and right front wings are restored, and the inside has been painted, it is time to place them back onto the body. Although most restorers leave them onto the body en remove the lower part of the front wings to repair the dashside strengtheners, I decided to remove the whole front wings at the place the where originally fixed to the body.

This method has the following advantages/disadvantages:

+ Removing and mounting can be done by myself.
+ Cleaning the inside of the front wings is much easier.
+ Repair and cleaning of the dashside strengtheners is very easy
+ Afterwards it will be invisible to see they where removed.
+ During the restoration process it was easier to store them temporarily in the attic.
– Difficult to place the wings back on exact the same spot.
– Lead must be placed back, which can be difficult.

The front wings are welded to the body nearby the front windscreen. Nearby the radiator the front wings are mounted on three places with bolts onto the chassis.

Parts needed to bold the front wings onto the chassis

Now that the front wings are mounted and the front hood is placed, it starts to get the contours of a Jaguar xk140 again.

Upper Body

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jan 152017

The front wings, which where remove due to the extensive rust in the Dashside Strengthener area, can only be placed back when this area and the inside of the front wings are painted. This area between the front wing and the dashside strengthener is very difficult to reach when the front wings are mounted.

I decided to paint the whole inside of the upper body shell together with the area around the dashside strengthener. I must first rid the body of paint and rust before the paint process can start . This was an enormous amount of work and I spent about 8 weeks in total to finish this job. (That why the blog was not updated for some time 🙂 )

Metal work

In the next places I need to do some sheet metal repair before the painting process could start:

In the front and rear windscreen profiles I found three places where the rust made openings in sheet metal.
All rust has been removed and the openinghas been welded and everything has smoothed with a grinder.
The left and right door sills have several holes which don’t belong there (previous owner has used them most probably to fix the floor carpet)
Also these holes are welded and smoothed with a grinder. The left door sill had some dents so I used some putty to straighten it. (removing the dent in the sills is very dificult)

The Dashside Strengtener